Can This Kitchen Be Saved?

The answer: a resounding yes! Country Living teamed up with designer Shawn Henderson for the ultimate makeover challenge. We recently set out in search of a kitchen so in need of transformation that it would make even the toughest experts quake in their boots. Turns out, we didn't have to look far: Our own photo editor, Barb Menke, was harboring a secret — one covered in faux-pine paneling and peeling linoleum. "If I were to use a single phrase to describe the room, it would be 'total disaster,'" admits Barb of the kitchen in her 1830s Cold Spring, New York, home. Though she and her husband, Avery Menke, renovated their living room, "guests gravitated toward the ugly kitchen," Barb says. So last April, the duo turned the space over to CL's style and market editors, along with Manhattan designer Shawn Henderson. Using cost-saving and clever solutions, the team created a kitchen that's as much about living well as eating well. "Our friends love it," Barb says. "Now I really can't get them out of my kitchen!"